Play-off agony for McIlroy in Florida
McIlroy, Russell Henley, Ryan Palmer and Scot Russell Knox all finished tied on eight under.
Returning to the 18th for the playoff, McIlroy overshot the green and found the back bunker in two but went through the green with his third, chunked his next one onto the green and had to hole an eight footer for par.
It made no difference in the end and after Knox and Palmer both failed to make birdie, 24-year old Henley two putted for winning four, holing a two footer for his second PGA Tour victory.
McIlroy said: “I had that three putt on 13 and then the second shot on 16 killed me. I hit underneath it and hit it a little heavy. I did well to make the playoff but I had an awkward yardage for my second.
“A 74 today wasn’t good enough to get the job done. If I had won it would have felt a little undeserved. I have to pick myself up, get back at it and try to get myself into contention at Doral next week.”
Thing went wrong for McIlroy at the end of his regulation round. After slashing down in the lake from a fairway trap to run up a double bogey six at the 16th when one clear, he then dropping another shot at the par-three 17th to go to the last needing a birdie to match clubhouse Palmer (69) and Knox (71) who were in on eight under par.
But he showed his class when he split the fairway and then hit a towering five wood from 145 yards to 11 feet.
He had an eagle putt to win the tournament outright but had to settle for birdie and was joined in extra time by Henley, who shot a 72 to join the trio on eight under par.
Woods’ nightmare season continued and his Masters preparations descended further into disarray when he withdrew with a back injury with five holes to play in the Honda Classic.
The world No 1 followed in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy 12 months ago, but rather than blaming a wisdom tooth as he soared to five over par through six holes, the 14-time major winner cited back spasms for his withdrawal.
There is now a question mark over his defence of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral’s Blue Monster this week and his hopes of winning the Masters after a start to the season that has seen him miss the cut in the Farmers Insurance Open and limp home 41st in the Dubai Desert Classic.
“It’s my lower back with spasms,” Woods said as he took his daughter Sam’s hand and left the course. “It started this morning warming up.
“I need treatment every day until Thursday to try to calm it down. We’ll see how it is. It’s the same feeling I had at the Barclays last year.”
While all this was going on, Graeme McDowell was jetting home to Orlando to do some urgent work on his swing after adding a one-over 71 to his third round 72 to finish in the pack on level par.
McDowell said: “The game is not in good shape at all but it feels a lot further away that it is. I just can’t put my finger on it.
“I didn’t hit a lot of great shots out there on the back nine but I found something there and have something to work on for the next few days before Doral.”
Despite top 10 finishes in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the WGC-Accenture Match Play, the Rathmore man is still knocking the rust off his
He said: “I was scrappy at Pebble Beach, a bit rusty and the matchplay I didn’t have that left to right shot in Tucson. I hit my irons well when I was just hitting draws but it’s still early season. I’ve played my best golf when I have had that little left to right bleeder in the bag — like at Hilton Head.”
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